The Gadfly (1897) by Ethel Lillian Voynich is a startling multi-layered story of ideological transformation, love, and legendary, superhuman courage. It encapsulates the life of Arthur Burton and his transition from a delicate and beautiful, innocent youth to a disillusioned and outspoken revolutionary hero, a remarkable man who undergoes a crisis of faith and becomes the proverbial Gadfly.
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The Gadfly is an ordinary man with human failings and weaknesses, a secret love, and a complex burden of pain. And yet he is larger than life, a superhero of fortitude, an atheist and humanist, an outspoken opponent of the political status quo and a proponent of freedom for the people; his words devastate and sting his enemies by the force of truth they convey.
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Set in Italy during the tumultuous period of political unrest in the middle of the nineteenth century, this unusual novel was an inspirational bestseller abroad, particularly remarkable in its emotional impact. And now it deserves to be discovered by a whole new generation of readers.